Speak Your Truth
by Tina101
Summary: At an Order meeting, Tonks is fed up with getting the short end of the assignments because of her age and lets her anger go, and of course, Remus is there to help. One-shot.


_Speak Your Truth_

The Order of the Phoenix members all sat around the kitchen table in Grimmauld Place struggling through yet another boring meeting. During this particular meeting, they were assigning jobs for the following month. So far all the important jobs, all the jobs Tonks wanted, were being given to older Order members. She could feel herself get restless as each job she volunteered for went to someone else.

Remus, who was sitting next to her, leaned over and whispered, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, never better," she snapped bitterly. He sighed. Ever since his return from being with the werewolves, she had been unusually hostile towards everyone, particularly him.

Tonks raised her hand to volunteer but was passed over yet again. Anger filled her up, and her hair turned a vibrant red, letting everyone know how angry she was.

"Tonks," Remus said under his breath as a warning, but as expected, she didn't listen.

"Why is everyone getting the jobs they want but me?" she demanded. Kingsley looked up form the list he was making. "I keep volunteering, but that doesn't matter." Now she had everyone's attention.

"Tonks," Remus repeated a little bit louder hoping that she'd actually get the message.

"What's wrong dear?" Molly pressed. Tonks got to her feet. Her hair remained bright red, indicating that she was still angry.

"I'm tired of being treated like a child! I may be the youngest one here, but that shouldn't matter. All I want is the same respect as everyone else here. I'm a damn auror of Merlin's sake! I'm specially trained in fighting the Dark Arts!"

"You're still young, Nymphadora," Mad-Eye argued in a surprisingly calm voice. This only fueled her pent-up anger. She rounded on Remus.

"Remus, how old was you and your friends when you joined the Order?" He stammered. It had been his intention to stay out of the arguing for as long as possible. "How old!?"

"Seventeen, we were all seventeen," he replied as quietly as possible in hopes that she wouldn't hear him, but she did.

"See!? By the time Lily and James were my age; they had gone against You-Know-Who three times and died because of it." Remus looked away. "Do I even need to mention Frank and Alice Longbottom? They're all the reason I joined the Order; to fight, not to be bypassed by everyone else because of my age!" Tonks' emotions got the better of her, and she fled the room. Before anyone else could react, Remus was on his feet rushing after her.

Remus followed the sound of Tonks' sobs to the sitting room where he found her sitting on the sofa with her head in her hands.

"Tonks?" he asked as gently as possible.

"Go away," she snapped. Her voice was muffled by her hands.

"Are you okay?"

"I said, _go away_." In a flash, she was on her feet with her wand pointed directly at his chest. A smirk played across his lips as if mocking her.

"What are you going to do, stun me?" Now he was tempting her, seeing how far he could push her. "Because if you are, I'm sure that it'll go over _real_ well with everyone else in the kitchen who you were just begging for respect. So, if you _really_ want to, go ahead." While glaring daggers at Remus, she lowered her wand. "There, are you better now?"

"No, and why the hell do you even care? You're just like them." He closed the door and put a silencing spell on the room.

"Since when has this been about me?"

"It's always been about you! You give me the same looks as everyone else. You see me as a child! That's why you keep pushing me away!"

"No, I'm pushing you away because you can do so much better than me." He was struggling to keep his calm composure.

"Liar! I don't want anyone else, I want _you_!" Tensions in the room were running way too high for either one to handle. Tonks simply Disapparated back to her flat; she wasn't in the mood to be with anyone else at the moment. After a few minutes, Remus returned to the kitchen with her truthful words still ringing in his ears.


End file.
